rworegon Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Since the great server crash of 2014 made all tank threads of the last two years go away I thought I would start over with the easiest one. Jenn is always looking at the tiny little creatures at the fish store and saying "I want that!" Since putting those tiny little creatures in a 90 gal reef would result in either lunch for other inhabitants or another resident that is never seen, We decided to start a nano. I picked this used Fluval up from another club member. It was a fresh water setup in a previous life. First order of business was to empty the old substrate and give it a good vinegar soak: IMG_2673 by rworegon, on Flickr I didn't much like the stock hood and the tank didn't come with any lighting so a hood/lighting overhaul was in order. First thing to do was cut down the hood to allow an open top for gas exchange. I took the whole thing over to Scuba Steve's house, easy, even in a Miata, and we cut the back off the stock hood. 20140318_173315 by rworegon, on Flickr This allowed me to keep the filter in place but out of sight. 20140318_173244 by rworegon, on Flickr A little trimming and a notch in the hood to accept the rim of the tank and everything sits nice and flat. 20140318_173333 by rworegon, on Flickr Next a piece of scrap black acrylic was cut and added to the back of the hood to complete the new hood. 20140318_181328 by rworegon, on Flickr Next was the remedy the lighting. I picked up a IM Nuvo8 light from Bicycle Bill. Thanks Bill. The mount was then glued to the back of the new hood to allow the light to be suspended above the new open top of the Edge. 20140318_203033 by rworegon, on Flickr The key was to find the sweet spot so that there were no shadow lines on the inside of the tank. 20140318_203238 by rworegon, on Flickr The finished product, dry. 20140318_203010 by rworegon, on Flickr Added some sand and rubble from the refugium of the reef and "Instant mini reef." its wet by rworegon, on Flickr Now for stocking, Yasha Goby with a candy cane pistol shrimp: yasha and pistol by rworegon, on Flickr Pom Pom crab: pom pom crab 03-27-2014 by rworegon, on Flickr Tailspot blenny: _IGP5143 by rworegon, on Flickr A couple of zoa's that were just sitting around on the floor of the reef: _IGP5139 by rworegon, on Flickr _IGP5140 by rworegon, on Flickr There's also a sexy shrimp, a gold banded coral shrimp, a Hector's Goby, a Neon Goby, sorry no pics of these right now, and this little guy: croucher by rworegon, on Flickr. Gumdrop Coral Croucher. This has been a fun little tank and a place for Jenn to put those cute, tiny little creatures that just aren't appropriate for the reef. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Very nice little tank, how has the coral croucher done? I love those little fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 This has been one of my favorite nanos on here its simple and we'll thought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rworegon Posted September 16, 2014 Author Share Posted September 16, 2014 Thank you both. The croucher is doing great. its really fun to watch at feeding time. He gets so excited and wiggles and darts about. Unfortunately there have been two casualties in this tank. The Pom Pom crab went missing some time ago, and recently the Tailspot managed to jump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featherblue Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Great nano! Makes me want to start my 12g again. Do u have anything for the sexy shrimp to host? Mine live their mini maxi and my lps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rworegon Posted November 9, 2014 Author Share Posted November 9, 2014 So soon I will start an upgrade build for this tank. It will be a 30 gal cube, but in the meantime as I gather the bits, one thing I picked up was a reefstar alpha series nano light from Kenny. I was "busy" watching the Oregon State vs Washington State game and thought I would see what the new light would look like over the Fluval. Took a little doing but I got it to fit. I programmed it so I would no longer have to manually turn the lights on and off every day. If this was going to be a permanent solution I would hang the light higher than the legs to get better coverage but since this is temporary, it will do just fine. I just can't say enough good things about the Alpha series light. So easy to program and the ramp up and ramp down is flawless. reefstar over fluval Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadySaber Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 what did you use for the legs on the light? I wanting to add a reefstar or OR T247 over my 10 gallon but do not want to hang from the ceiling. I have it on my kitchen counter so no way to attach anything to that either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rworegon Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 The legs came with the Reefstar. Talk to Kenny, he's great to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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